Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

Friday gaming news, the second part:

Romero Games' new shooter loses funding, the studio may be closing, and it looks like Microsoft is to blame
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/romero-games-new-shooter-loses-funding-the-studio-may-be-closing-and-it-looks-like-microsoft-is-to-blame/
If you thought the latest tsunami of awfulness to crash over the videogame industry would be contained to yesterday, I have bad news. Romero Games, the studio founded in 2015 by industry legends Brenda and John Romero, announced today that funding for its latest project has been cut off, and it's been forced to lay off employees.

Marvel Rivals' updated hero hot list reveals the most-played and highest win-rate characters, and it's good news for Support players
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-updated-hero-hot-list-reveals-the-most-played-and-highest-win-rate-characters-and-its-good-news-for-support-players/
Every new season of Marvel Rivals brings more terrifying metas and heroes that manage to tower above the rest. And with just a week before Season 3 lands, NetEase has released an updated version of the hero hot list so everyone can compare notes and see which heroes they should jump on for the remaining second season.

Rematch's developers expected players to develop new tech fast, but 'not nearly as fast as it is going right now'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/rematchs-developers-expected-players-to-develop-new-tech-fast-but-not-nearly-as-fast-as-it-is-going-right-now/
I've been having a blast slowly crawling out of Bronze in Rematch (I'm Silver now, so I'm kind of a big deal). I've a few gripes, mind—some of which are the developer's fault, like the wonky netcode, while others are the player's fault, like that one guy who keeps spamming 'good job!' at me because I hit the post. I know I didn't do a good job. It's okay.
The developer Sloclap, who also made Sifu and Absolver, is keen to keep the game updated in the future. In a conversation with PCG's own Evan Lahti, co-founder Pierre Tarno and lead game designer Dylan Allen talked about their plans for the future.
>> Among those plans there’s an in-game report system or banning cheaters, to name a couple.

Brace yourself: Hades 2 just got what 'will likely be our final patch' before full release
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/brace-yourself-hades-2-just-got-what-will-likely-be-our-final-patch-before-full-release/
On the long list of crimes for which I am responsible, a single entry is king: I have barely played more than an hour of Hades 1 in my life. Is it because I'm a bad person? Yes, but also I feel like I missed the boat on it a little bit. (...)
I'm in the door in time for Hades 2, though, which remains in early access and just dropped patch 10, consisting of all manner of tweaks and adjustments for Melinoe's no-good day in the underworld.
More tantalising, though, is the patch's preamble, where Supergiant says this will "likely be our final patch before our v1.0 launch." Sharp intake of my breath. My god, Hades 2's full release is just around the corner! But wait, Supergiant does follow up that sentence with "whenever that will be!" So maybe it's not happening by sunset.

MindsEye boss reportedly blames its failure on 'saboteurs' and says a re-launch is in the works, even as the entire development studio is at risk of layoff
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/mindseye-boss-reportedly-blames-its-failure-on-saboteurs-and-says-a-re-launch-is-in-the-works-even-as-the-entire-development-studio-is-at-risk-of-layoff/
The situation at MindsEye studio Build a Rocket Boy has taken another weird turn in the form of a video chat between founder Leslie Benzies and employees. According to an IGN report, Benzies has committed to a "re-launch" of MindsEye, presumably with the goal of setting the game on a redemption arc, even though the entire studio is at risk of being let go.

Before cancelling ZeniMax's Destiny-style MMO shooter, Xbox executives reportedly enjoyed early demos so much that the controller had to be pulled from Phil Spencer's hands
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/before-cancelling-zenimaxs-destiny-style-mmo-shooter-xbox-executives-reportedly-enjoyed-early-demos-so-much-that-the-controller-had-to-be-pulled-from-phil-spencers-hands/
Yesterday, Microsoft started its latest round of layoffs, aiming to eliminate 9,000 jobs after previously cutting more than 12,000 employees over the last two years. The latest downsizing has led to studio closures and game cancellations—including Blackbird, an unannounced MMO in development at ZeniMax that Xbox executives were reportedly thrilled about before abruptly killing the project.
>> If that’s not enough to realize how out of touch those execs are, here’s another face.palming example of it.

Stop Killing Games surges past its goals, but a possible signature spoofing campaign could cause trouble: 'This is not a Change.org petition. This is a government process'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/stop-killing-games-surges-past-its-goals-but-a-possible-signature-spoofing-campaign-could-cause-trouble-this-is-not-a-change-org-petition-this-is-a-government-process/
Less than two weeks ago, it looked like the Stop Killing Games initiative was in trouble: Founder Ross Scott said the deadlines for petitions filed in the EU and UK were rapidly approaching, but both were still far from the number of signatures required to take them to the next step. The situation has changed dramatically in the brief period since, though. Scott's warning earned attention, interest, and a pile of signatures, and both petitions have now passed their targets. But there's a problem.
(...)
The problem is that the million signatures on the EU petition may not actually be a million signatures. There are two reasons for this: Mistakes, which are unintentional but inevitable and will be discarded, and more worryingly, a potential spoofing campaign that could be flooding the petition with fake signatures. Scott told PC Gamer that he'd been sent screenshots of spoofing campaigns from sources including 4chan and Discord: "It could just be talk, but it's put us on more on guard," he said.

Surprise! The Anthem servers are still running—but they won't be after January 12
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/surprise-the-anthem-servers-are-still-running-but-they-wont-be-after-january-12/
Electronic Arts pulled the plug on Anthem in early 2021, finally putting an end to BioWare's ill-advised foray into the looter shooter genre. The game itself continued to run, though, quietly trundling along like an empty subway cleaving through the pre-dawn hours of a cold, forgotten Tuesday. But the ride is almost over.
"We have an important update to share regarding Anthem," Electronic Arts announced today. "After careful consideration, we will be sunsetting Anthem on January 12, 2026. This means that the game will still be playable online for the next 180+ days. As of today, you can no longer purchase in-game premium currency, but you can still use your remaining balance until the servers go offline.

Peak re-releases its next update aimed at improving stability and reassures players 'we don't have any issue with sharing video content, including modded stuff'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/peak-re-releases-its-next-update-aimed-at-improving-stability-and-reassures-players-we-dont-have-any-issue-with-sharing-video-content-including-modded-stuff/
Earlier this week, Peak developers Landcrab had to cycle back on a patch that was released to help improve stability. All the fixes worked, the only problem was that it somehow stopped a bunch of players from accessing the game. But now the devs have come back with the same patch with all of the fixes and none of the issues.

And here are the weekend deals at GOG and Steam

+GOG

• GOG’s Summer Sale runs its last weekend, as it will end next Wednesday: https://www.gog.com/

+Steam

• Steam’s Summer Sale celebrates its second and last weekend, as it will end this Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com

I love it when the weekend deals are so easy to do.

Anyway, that’s all for this week. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.